San Pedro High star second baseman Korin Cuico displays a T-shirt with a
picture of her baby son, Elijah, whom she gave birth to last December.
Cuico decided to give her son to a cousin in Utah who could not bear
children. Cuico worked her way back into shape and has been a top
player for San Pedro.

She sat in a car with her father, Johnny, in a parking lot of an abortion clinic in downtown L.A. It can be impossible choice for anyone, let alone a scared 17-year-old girl attempting to make the biggest decision of her life.

With the car running, her father told her he supported her either way, whether they went into the clinic for a scheduled abortion or whether they drove away.

“It was a lifesaving moment,” Cuico said. “Either I was going to have an abortion, or I was going to have the baby and give it to my cousin.”

Cuico is the second-oldest of seven children in the Cuico household, and she had been a normal 17-year-old student-athlete whose natural athleticism helped her earn All-Marine League honors in softball and volleyball.

She had been experiencing stomach pains for nearly a month. Finally, with support of her cousin, Ui Judd, a Banning softball standout, she took a pregnancy test.

It came back positive.

It turned out Cuico was five months pregnant.

“In my mind, I was thinking about an abortion,” Cuico said. “But I didn’t want to because the baby was already moving in my stomach. I felt sad just thinking about an abortion. It was an emotional roller coaster for the next month.”

Then questions began to hit Cuico. How did this happen? What’s next? How am I going to tell my parents?

Cuico visited her older sister, Kayla, a student at UC Santa Barbara, and tried to formulate a plan.

Cuico did not tell her parents for three weeks before confiding in Johnny and Kekela.

“The first reaction is shock, of course,” Johnny Cuico said. “Our concern was about her future, how Korin could continue with her life and her education.

“It was really emotionally tough for her. Her and I talked a lot at night. We’re really close. I have seven kids, but I probably feel closest to her, and it was a really emotional decision for her.”

Cuico kept the pregnancy hidden well in the beginning.

Teammate Perelini Koria, who is a longtime family friend, Korin’s sisters Kayla and Kailee and a couple of male friends were the only ones who knew.

“It was just a Polynesian thing; we knew we could trust each other,” Cuico said. “I was scared to tell people. I was still juggling whether or not to have an abortion. And if people knew I was having a baby, they would expect a baby.

“Every day felt like a long time when this whole thing was happening.”

First, Cuico told the girls volleyball team she could not come back this season because she was pregnant. Then she told softball coach Tony Dobra, who said this was the first time in his 21-year coaching career that one of his current players was having a baby.

“You have to remember sometimes that these are kids playing a sport, then life steps in,” Dobra said. “Once in a while, you are not their coach, but an adult who listens and gives advice. It’s not on the job description, but it’s part of being a coach.

“I didn’t know how to react because I had never been through this before, but her family really rallied around her.”

So did her teammates. Koria said she told her close friend she was there for her, no matter what.

“My first reaction was about her,” Koria said. “I was concerned for her, for her mental state. I told her I was there for her if she needed help emotionally making these difficult decisions, especially at our age.”

Johnny Cuico knew his daughter would prefer not to have an abortion. But he thought an abortion might be the way to keep her future open.

“In her heart, she did not want an abortion,” Johnny Cuico said. “We needed to try and figure out what to do and how to support her as she was bringing a new life into the world.”

But as the car was idling, Cuico wasn’t sure what her decision was going to be.

Cousin steps up

On the same day Cuico and her father went to the abortion clinic, Cuico’s 25-year-old cousin in Utah learned she was unable to have children.

So the cousin called Cuico and asked if Cuico would be willing to have the baby and let the cousin adopt it.

“In the Samoan culture, if you can’t have a baby, they can ask a relative,” Johnny Cuico said. “It’s a common thing. There’s no secret or disrespect. It’s the way it is.”

Cuico, already wary about having an abortion, seemed receptive to the idea, though she hadn’t ruled out an abortion yet.

Her parents, concerned about her future, had been recommending an abortion, but the idea of her cousin adopting the child definitely had an appeal.

“The beauty about having a family adoption is that she can go see her cousin, and her cousin can visit her,” Johnny Cuico said. “The baby is going to know who his birth mother is and who is raising him. There are no secrets.”

So Cuico and her father drove off, away from the clinic. Cuico was going to have her child. She said the weight of the world seemed to come off her shoulders on the ride home.

“It was a really bad roller coaster,” Cuico said. “It matured me a lot faster than any 17-year-old should have to go through. And I’m glad how supportive my family was of the whole situation.

“I had a change of heart. If I had an abortion, I don’t know how I would’ve lived with myself.”

Reality sets in

Almost three months later, Cuico knew her baby was coming.

“My dad was going 90 miles per hour to get to the hospital,” Cuico said.

They went to Torrance Memorial Medical Center. Cuico had not taken any Lamaze classes.

Her mother was going to be her birthing coach, having gone through seven natural births. Cuico, in labor for 4<MD+,%30,%55,%70>1/<MD-,%0,%55,%70>2 hours, decided to receive medication.

Finally, Elijah was born on Dec. 8 at 3:55 a.m. He was 7.95 pounds, 20 inches long and completely healthy.

“It was amazing. I held him, and I thought, this is my blood, not my mom’s,” Cuico said. “It was just an experience with my son. It was great.”

Elijah was born on the 12-year anniversary of the death Cuico’s grandfather, John Muaina.

“I thought he was my miracle baby, especially because of the day he was born,” Cuico said.

Cuico’s San Pedro teammates came to visit her in the hospital. Pitcher Taylor Petty and outfielder Holly Stevens came together, and Koria later joined them after returning from a softball tournament. Players from Cuico’s club team, the Mizuno Pride, also visited.

“Babies are blessings,” Koria said. “All the girls told her they couldn’t wait to see the baby. He was healthy, she was fine.”

Then came the hard part for Cuico.

Her cousin came the next day, eager to bring a child into her home in Utah.

The plan was agreed upon, but it was heartbreaking for Cuico, who had to say goodbye to her newborn son. She could have changed her mind, but she made the biggest decision of her life.

“It was a really harsh experience,” Cuico said. “It was probably the No. 1 worst day of my life. After spending the night with him and holding him, letting him go was hard for me.

“I wondered if I was doing the right thing. In a way, I thought I was abandoning him. I knew it was coming, but it was not until that day that I felt the pain of what I had to do.”

Cuico, who turned 18 on May 6, said she is in touch with the baby’s father but that they aren’t together.

Cuico visited her son during spring break and said he’s a big boy with an appetite to match.

“There’s some days when I miss him so much, I start crying,” Cuico said. “Sometimes I feel the communication could be better with my cousin.

“Sometimes I feel I could’ve done a good job raising him. But I don’t take back anything. I did what was best for him and for me.

“Living in a house with seven kids, I want kids too. That’s my lifetime goal, and I can’t wait for that part of my life.”

still Recapturing her glory

Cuico tried to cope with her emotions by refocusing her energy on school and softball.

“My drive for doing well in softball is in overdrive,” Cuico said. “I play every day for my son. And I feel I need to give 110 percent in school and softball for him.”

Cuico had one thing in her favor in her attempt to return to softball: she had almost three months before the season began to get her fitness back.

Cuico was being recruited by Pacific-10 and SEC softball programs before the pregnancy, but only Indiana State, with former San Pedro standout Stephanie Spychaj as an assistant coach, did not pull its offer.

Now, Cuico has been trying to rekindle recruiting interest. She has her eye on UNLV, which would put her no more than a five-hour drive from her family here and her son in Utah.

“I was surprised because I thought everyone was going to drop off in recruiting,” said Cuico, who has a 3.6 grade-point average and plans to study physical therapy or sports medicine in college.

Cuico slimmed down quickly. Determined to come back strong, she lost the 30 pounds she gained during the pregnancy. But she said it took even more time before she regained her timing and precision.

She hit .280 (7-for-25) in her first nine games, far below her career average. She also had just three RBIs and six runs.

Then, Cuico went 3-for-4 against Bishop Montgomery and followed that with a 3-for-5 performance against Carson that included a double and a home run.

Cuico made adjustments. She stands more to the back of the batter’s box to account for her slower reaction time.

Now Cuico is looking like her old self, hitting .389 (37-for-95) with two home runs, 22 RBIs, 38 runs, 10 doubles and two triples.

And she is just two games away from closing her high school career with her third straight L.A. City Section title. Top seed San Pedro meets Granada Hills in a City Championship semifinal today at 2:30 p.m. at South Gate Park.

Her muscular, 5-foot-9 frame makes her one of the most atypical second baseman and leadoff hitters one would see in high school softball.

But since Dobra moved her from the middle of the order to the leadoff spot on March 14, 2007, San Pedro has gone 50-3, including a 23-game win streak to end last year’s City championship season.

Koria said Cuico is an inspirational player with an uplifting spirit.

“I hope people don’t look at her as the Pedro girl who got pregnant,” Koria said, “but rather as someone who brought life into this world and who does not give up on anything.”

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.